Yesterday’s Technology – Tomorrow’s Liability or Tomorrow’s Opportunity?

Data security remains a key concern for governments and businesses across Australia, especially in the age of emerging technology like AI. The modern world runs on data and customers and citizens have an expectation that the businesses and government agencies with their data will keep it safe from bad actors.

Millions are spent on cybersecurity measures to protect data from cyberattacks and leaks.

But what about when these devices, responsible for holding sensitive customer data, are retired? What measures are we putting in place to ensure that the data on these devices is truly gone and inaccessible?

All too often, we see retired laptops, hard drives, servers, and other data bearing technology being resold with customer or employee data still accessible. In the wrong hands sensitive data could cost businesses and governments millions in fines and lost revenue, and an irreplaceable loss of trust and reputation.

Data security for end-of-life devices isn’t as interesting as the newest innovations in cybersecurity, but it is just as important. Transitioning old devices out and ensuring that risk is managed at every step is what keeps data safe and out of the wrong hands and that’s what we do for businesses and governments across Australia.

We help them securely sanitise, dispose of, or destroy their old devices, from laptops, to desktops, to servers and hard drives, and other data bearing devices. As a NAID-AAA certified company, we provide peace of mind for our partners and the reporting to back it up.

According to the Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water, Australia generated 511,000 tonnes of e-waste in 2019. And the national total was expected to grow by nearly 30%, to 657,000 tonnes in 2023.

And of those 511,000 tonnes of e-waste Australia generated? Only one third of the total value of materials was recovered.

That means in 2019 alone we sent over $430 million worth of materials to landfills, including valuable metals like gold, copper, and silver.

And it also means we sent toxic, harmful materials like cadmium, mercury, and persistent organic pollutants, to landfill. These materials post an environmental risk now and for future generations.

There is a better way. We know there is because it’s a core part of our business. Instead of seeing e-waste as simply waste, we see it as value – tangible, monetary value for us and for our partners.

E-waste is an opportunity for resource recovery. Copper, gold, silver, palladium – these are all recyclable, reusable materials that can be recovered from old technology and smelted down to be put back into the supply chain for reuse.

And that’s what we do. Through our work, we’ve recovered nearly 6000 ounces of gold, 25,000 ounces of silver, 3000 ounces of palladium, and over 200 tonnes of pure copper. That’s value and resources recovered from existing products, put back into the supply chain as usable materials.

It’s also an opportunity to capture the toxic materials before they end up leeching into landfills and have them disposed of properly. Since we began operations, we’ve kept over 2500 tonnes of waste out of landfill and repurposed over 250,000 IT assets.

And the value of e-waste is not just in what can be stripped out of its individual parts, but also in refurbishment and reuse. Businesses and governments transitioning to new technology dispose of working, reliable technology that can be refurbished and resold for reuse on the second-hand market.

As a country, Australia is committed to reducing emissions and transitioning to new ways of power generation, but why stop at emissions? If we want to get serious about caring for country and doing our part, we need to change the way we think about e-waste and how we deal with it.

Yesterday’s technology also represents a significant opportunity for training and employment – resource recovery, refurbishment, sanitisation and destruction – these are all things we can’t automate and require human hands.

At WV Tech we’ve turned our partners e-waste into social impact through the Worldview Foundation, a charity dedicated to helping Indigenous young people break the generation cycle and set up a strong foundation for a better life. The Worldview Foundation offers holistic, wrap-around support, Indigenous mentors, skills training and certificates, driving lessons, and employment pathways to Indigenous Australians.

Through our partners, we’ve been able to create 200+ Indigenous jobs and create $31million in social impact value – value and impact in Indigenous communities.

So, where others see IT asset disposal as a boring box tick, we see value. Value in resource recovery and value in social impact for Indigenous Australians.